Salmon inquiry commissioner critical of Fisheries Act changes

Bruce Cohen presents his final report titled The Uncertain Future of Fraser River Sockeye Wednesday, October 31, 2012 in Vancouver. This is the final report in the Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River. The commission was established in 2009 to study and report on dwindling salmon stocks in the Fraser River, and to make suggestions on their recovery.Jason Payne
/ PNG

Commissioner Bruce Cohen found "no smoking gun" to explain a two-decade decline in Fraser River sockeye salmon, but recommended a freeze on salmon farming in the Discovery Islands until 2030.

A sockeye salmon is reeled in by a fisherman along the shores of the Fraser River near Chilliwack, B.C. A report into the 2009 collapse of the Fraser River sockeye run was made public Wednesday after a public inquiry took two years to study what happened.

Commissioner Bruce Cohen found "no smoking gun" to explain a two-decade decline in Fraser River sockeye salmon, but recommended a freeze on salmon farming in the Discovery Islands until 2030.PNG files
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VANCOUVER - The Cohen commission recommendations, which call for greater protection for sockeye salmon and their habitat, run headlong into federal government measures to water down environmental regulations and cut staff.

Former B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Cohen took aim at the federal government Wednesday in his much-anticipated report on the decline of Fraser River sockeye. He said he was “troubled” by recent amendments to the environmental process and the Fisheries Act by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government.

“However, the recent amendments to the Fisheries Act appear to be taking (the Department of Fisheries and Oceans) in a very different direction.”

Cohen said he was disappointed the federal government didn’t wait to introduce the changes in Bill C-38 until after the inquiry was complete.

He also noted “concern” over staff cuts in DFO’s Pacific Region habitat management program. The Conservatives cut $79 million, or 5.8 per cent, from DFO’s total budget this year.

The Harper-created inquiry, anticipated to cost $26 million, sat for 138 days, heard from 179 witnesses and sifted through three million pages of documents.

In particular, Cohen noted amendments to the Fisheries Act shift emphasis from fish and habitat protection to the protection of fisheries.

That change lowers the standard of protection for Fraser River sockeye salmon, Cohen said.

Cohen called on the federal government to properly fund and implement DFO’s own 2005 wild salmon and 1986 habitat policies.

The wild salmon policy is meant to restore and maintain healthy and diverse salmon populations and their habitats “for the enjoyment of the people of Canada in perpetuity.” But Cohen said he has no confidence the policy will ever be implemented without dedicated funding.

Cohen also concluded DFO is not achieving its goal of a net gain in productive fish habitat, or of “no net loss” of habitat, under the 1986 habitat policy.

Finding no “smoking gun” to explain the sockeye declines, Cohen also called for more research. He noted there are many stressors in rivers and the marine environment, highlighting climate change and warming waters as a key issue.

Saying it was important to be cautious, Cohen called for a freeze on new salmon farms in the Discovery Islands in B.C.’s central coast.

“I urge the federal government, in the interests of conserving the iconic species of salmon, to heed my findings and to implement these recommendations,” Cohen said at a news conference.

“If implementing the recommendations is delayed, the ongoing threats to the stocks will make remedial action all the more challenging when it does begin.”

Ecojustice lawyer Tim Leadem said he is hopeful the recommendations will be implemented. “We have a judicial inquiry, a judge of the B.C. Supreme Court, after hearing from many witnesses — what government in its right mind would actually ignore those recommendations?” said Leadem.

“I want to assure Canadians that we, like all British Columbians, want to see a sustainable and prosperous salmon fishery for years to come,” he said in a news release.

Opposition MPs stated the Cohen inquiry proves what they have been saying for months, that bill C-38 weakens habitat protection.

On May 30, federal Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield, who is now on medical leave, defended the changes, insisting they will “strengthen our habitat rules.”

Green party leader Elizabeth May said Ashfield and other government spokesmen, including Kamp, are misleading Canadians.

“All of these ministers function as essentially public relations spokespersons for Stephen Harper’s policies that destroy environmental laws, and in this case, after voluminous reports and tons of study, Mr. Justice Cohen is pretty clear that these are troubling changes (in C-38) that go in the wrong direction,” said May, MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands.

New Democratic Party deputy fisheries critic Fin Donnelly said opposition MPs have been vindicated in their criticisms of C-38, which narrowed the definition of fish habitat and sharply increased the threshold before individuals and companies can be charged with harming fish and their habitat.

“The Conservatives have been misleading Canadians, they’ve been misleading British Columbians, and Cohen reinforces exactly what we’ve been saying all along,” said Donnelly, MP for New Westminster-Coquitlam.

B.C. Agriculture Minister Norm Letnick said the government will review Cohen’s report closely.

He said the province wants to ensure there is a healthy sockeye salmon run, and to play whatever role it can “to make that happen.”

B.C. NDP environment critic Rob Fleming called the report a “very clear rejection” of the Harper Conservatives’ approach to gut the scientific and research capacity of fisheries management on the B.C. coast.

B.C. Conservative Party leader John Cummins dismissed the Cohen report as a “complete and utter waste” of taxpayers dollars.

The former Conservative MP and federal fisheries critic, said the report provided no clear direction to the DFO on how to manage the Fraser River fishery.

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